Highly toughened poly(lactic acid) (PLA) prepared through melt blending with ethylene-co-vinyl acetate (EVA) copolymer and simultaneous addition of hydrophilic silica nanoparticles and block copolymer compatibilizer

In this study, a highly toughened PLA was prepared through physical melt-blending with EVA at the presence of hydrophilic nanosilica and SEBS-g-MA block copolymer compatibilizer. The effect of nanosilica and compatibilizer on the morphology, mechanical properties, and linear rheology of the PLA/EVA blends was also investigated. According to TEM images, nanosilica was selectively located in the PLA matrix while some were placed on the interface between the two polymers as was also predicted by thermodynamic and kinetic analysis. Upon the addition of nanoparticles, the interfacial adhesion between the phases was enhanced and the average droplet size decreased. Interestingly, incorporation of SEBS-g-MA induced morphological changes as the spherical EVA droplets turned into a cylindrical shape. DSC results indicated that blending with EVA copolymer resulted in the reduction of crystallization of PLA matrix; however, the crystallinity increased at the presence of nanoparticles up to 5 wt%. The addition of compatibilizer considerably hindered the crystallization of the PLA phase. PLA/EVA blend containing optimum levels of nanosilica exhibited considerably enhanced tensile toughness, elongation at break, and impact strength. On the other hand, the simultaneous addition of nanoparticles and SEBS-g-MA led to synergistic toughening effects and the compatibilized blend containing nanosilica exhibited excellent impact toughness. For instance, the elongation at break of the compatibilized PLA/EVA blend containing the optimal content of nanosilica was increased from 7% to 121% (compared to neat sample). The notched Izod impact strength was also increased from 5.1 to 65 kJ/m². Finally, the microstructure of the blends was assessed by rheological measurements.     

Cost-effective combination of contention resolution/avoidance schemes in bufferless slotted OPS networks

Contention is a major problem for Optical Packed Switched (OPS) networks. Many studies have shown that to obtain a very small optical packet loss rate, a large number of specific contention resolution or contention avoidance hardware must be used. However, this may not be so cost-effective. Instead of using the same technique to achieve a very low packet loss rate, the idea of this paper is to use the combination of different contention avoidance and contention resolution schemes, but using a lower amount of each scheme, to reduce packet loss rate in slotted bufferless OPS networks. A number of cost-effective contention resolution and avoidance schemes are studied in order to decrease traffic loss and increase TCP throughput as a result. Designing a multi-fiber architecture that uses inexpensive shared-per-node wavelength converters and additional drop-ports can significantly reduce network-wide traffic loss. The lost traffic can also be retransmitted in the optical domain in order to have a loss-free OPS network. A cost model is also provided to obtain cost-effective combinations of fibers, wavelength converters and drop ports under a desirable TCP throughput and investment on network hardware. The effectiveness of the combined contention avoidance and resolution schemes are demonstrated under Internet traffic.     

Influence of MgO/CeO2 ratio on CO2-oxidative transformation of C2H6 to C2H4 over highly active and stable Cr/MgO(x)–CeO2(100−x) nanocatalysts

Cr/MgO(x)–CeO₂(100?x) nanocatalysts were synthesized by a coprecipitation method and characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), energy-dispersive x-ray (EDX) spectroscopy, diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) analysis. The effect of ceria addition on their physicochemical characteristics was investigated, and the results were correlated with their catalytic performance in oxidative dehydrogenation of ethane. A decrease in the size of the metal particles was found when adding a suitable content of ceria to the support. Crystalline Cr₂O₃ was not found in the calcined samples, indicating good dispersion of Cr species on the support. All samples showed nanosized particles with uniform morphology, with the best surface morphology for the Cr/MgO(50)–CeO₂(50) sample, on which the particle distribution mainly lay in the range of 40–60 nm. Variation of the amount of Ce in the support led to an enhancement of the Cr⁶⁺/Cr³⁺ ratio, with the highest value for the Cr/MgO(50)–CeO₂(50) sample. This catalyst effectively dehydrogenated ethane to ethylene with CO₂ at 700 °C even after 5 h on-stream, giving 42.76 % ethylene yield.

     

Catalytic wet air oxidation of phenol over ultrasound-assisted synthesized Ni/CeO2–ZrO2 nanocatalyst used in wastewater treatment

Non-noble metal Ni with different loadings was coated on precipitated CeO₂–ZrO₂ support by the sonochemistry method and examined for catalytic wet air oxidation of phenol. The structure of the nanocatalysts was determined by BET, FESEM, XRD, and FTIR analyses. The results showed non-uniform morphology of the nanocatalyst at lower Ni contents changed to homogenous morphology with spherical nano particles at higher Ni contents. While the size of NiO crystals remained constant with rising Ni content, the crystallinity of NiO significantly increased. If the crystallinity of NiO was 100% in 20% wt Ni/CeO₂–ZrO₂, the crystallinity of NiO in 5% wt Ni was found to be 41.13%. The average particle size in Ni(15%)/CeO₂–ZrO₂ was 77 nm in which 85.71% of particle diameters were less than 100 nm. Catalytic wet air oxidation of phenol with different Ni loadings indicated improvement of phenol destruction at higher amounts of active phase. Removal of phenol increased with increasing catalyst loading from 4 to 9.0 g/l but further increase to 10 g/l declined the catalyst reactivity.     

Sonochemically preparation and characterization of bimetallic Ni-Co/Al2O3-ZrO2 nanocatalyst: Effects of ultrasound irradiation time and power on catalytic properties and activity in dry reforming of CH4

The catalytic performance of nanostructured Ni-Co/Al₂O₃-ZrO₂ catalysts, prepared by ultrasound-assisted impregnation method was examined in the dry reforming of methane. The effect of irradiation power and irradiation time have been studied by changing time (0, 20, 80 min) and power of the sonication (30, 60, 90 W) during the synthesis which resulted in different physiochemical properties of the nanocatalyst. The nanocatalysts were characterized by XRD, FESEM, PSD, EDX, TEM, TPR-H₂, BET, FTIR and TG analyses. Based on the characterization results, ultrasound treatment endowed the sample with more uniform and smaller nanoparticles; higher surface area, stronger metal-support interaction and more homogenous dispersion. Moreover, the analyses exhibited smaller particles with higher surface area and less population of particle aggregates at longer and highly irradiated nanocatalysts. The nanocatalyst irradiated at 90 W for 80 min (the longest irradiation time and the most intense power) showed a uniform morphology and a very narrow particles size distribution. More than 65% of particles of this nanocatalyst were in the range of 10–30 nm. Activity tests demonstrated that employing ultrasound irradiation during impregnation improves feed conversion and products yield, reaching values close to equilibrium. Among sonicated nanocatalysts, with increasing power and time of irradiation, the nanocatalyst represents higher activity. The superior performance amongst the various bimetallic catalysts tested was observed over the catalyst with 90 W and 80 min ultrasonic irradiation which is stable in 24 h time on stream test. The excellent anti-coking performance of this bimetallic catalyst, confirmed by TG and FESEM analyses of spent catalyst, is closely related to the promoting effect of sonication on the metal-support interaction, Ni dispersion and particle size; and probably, the synergy between metallic species.     

Sono-synthesis and characterization of bimetallic Ni–Co/Al2O3–MgO nanocatalyst: Effects of metal content on catalytic properties and activity for hydrogen production via CO2 reforming of CH4

Sono-dispersion of Ni, Co and Ni–Co over Al₂O₃–MgO with Al/Mg ratio of 1.5 was prepared and tested for dry reforming of methane. The samples were characterized by XRD, FESEM, PSD, EDX, TEM, BET and FTIR analyses. In order to assess the effect of ultrasound irradiation, Ni–Co/Al₂O₃–MgO with Co content of 8% prepared via sonochemistry and impregnation methods. The sono-synthesized sample showed better textural properties and higher activity than that of impregnated one. Comparison of XRD patterns indicated that the NiO peaks became broader by increasing Co content over the support. The FESEM images displayed the particles are small and well-dispersed as a result of sonochemistry method. Also, EDX analysis demonstrated better dispersion of Ni and Co as a result of sonochemistry method in confirmation of XRD analysis. The sono-synthesized Ni–Co/Al₂O₃–MgO as a superior nanocatalyst with Co content of 3% illustrates much higher conversions (97.5% and 99% for CH₄ and CO₂ at 850 °C), yields (94% and 96% for H₂ and CO at 850 °C) and 0.97 of H₂/CO molar ratio in all samples using an equimolar feed ratio at 850 °C. During the 1200 min stability test, H₂/CO molar ratio remained constant for the superior nanocatalyst.     

Precise spatial control of cavitation erosion in a vessel phantom by using an ultrasonic standing wave

In atherosclerotic inducement in animal models, the conventionally used balloon injury is invasive, produces excessive vessel injuries at unpredictable locations and is inconvenient in arterioles. Fortunately, cavitation erosion, which plays an important role in therapeutic ultrasound in blood vessels, has the potential to induce atherosclerosis noninvasively at predictable sites. In this study, precise spatial control of cavitation erosion for superficial lesions in a vessel phantom was realised by using an ultrasonic standing wave (USW) with the participation of cavitation nuclei and medium-intensity ultrasound pulses. The superficial vessel erosions were restricted between adjacent pressure nodes, which were 0.87 mm apart in the USW field of 1 MHz. The erosion positions could be shifted along the vessel by nodal modulation under a submillimetre-scale accuracy without moving the ultrasound transducers. Moreover, the cavitation erosion of the proximal or distal wall could be determined by the types of cavitation nuclei and their corresponding cavitation pulses, i.e., phase-change microbubbles with cavitation pulses of 5 MHz and SonoVue microbubbles with cavitation pulses of 1 MHz. Effects of acoustic parameters of the cavitation pulses on the cavitation erosions were investigated. The flow conditions in the experiments were considered and discussed. Compared to only using travelling waves, the proposed method in this paper improves the controllability of the cavitation erosion and reduces the erosion depth, providing a more suitable approach for vessel endothelial injury while avoiding haemorrhage.     

Rheology, morphology and mechanical properties of polyethylene/ethylene vinyl acetate copolymer (PE/EVA) blends

Rheology, morphology and mechanical properties of binary PE and EVA blends together with their thermal behavior were studied. The results of rheological studies showed that, for given PE and EVA, the interfacial interaction in PE-rich blends is higher than EVA-rich blends, which in turn led to finer and well-distributed morphology in PE-rich blends. Using two different models, the phase inversion composition was predicted to be in 45 and 47 wt% of the PE phase. This was justified by morphological studies, where a clear co-continuous morphology for 50/50 blend was observed. The tensile strength for PE-rich blends showed positive deviation from mixing rule, whereas the 50/50 blend and EVA-rich blends displayed negative deviation. These results were in a good agreement with the results of viscoelastic behavior of the blends. The elongation at break was found to follow the same trend as tensile strength except for 90/10 PE/EVA blend. The latter was explained in terms of the effect of higher co-crystallization in 90/10 composition, which increased the tensile strength and decreased the elongation at break in this composition. The results of thermal behavior of the blends indicated that the melting temperatures of PE and EVA decrease and increase, respectively, due to the dilution effect of EVA on PE and nucleation effect of PE on EVA.     

Hydrogen production via CO2-reforming of methane over Cu and Co doped Ni/Al2O3 nanocatalyst: impregnation versus sol–gel method and effect of process conditions and promoter

In this study, Cu and Co doped Ni/Al₂O₃ nanocatalyst was synthesized via impregnation and sol–gel methods. The physiochemical properties of nanocatalyst were characterized by XRD, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), particle size distribution, BET, fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), TG–DTA and energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis. The samples were employed for CO₂-reforming of methane in atmospheric pressure, temperature range from 550 to 850 °C, under various mixture of CH₄/CO₂ and different gas hourly space velocity. XRD patterns besides indicating the decline of the peaks intensity in sol–gel method, proved the potential of this procedure in diminishing the crystal size and preventing the NiAl₂O₄ spinel formation. Moreover, high surface area might derive of smaller particle size and uniform morphology of sol–gel prepared ones, confirmed by FESEM and BET analysis. TG–DTG analysis as well supported the higher surface area for sol–gel made ones, represented the proper calcination temperature (approximately 600 °C). Also, presence of the active phases and elemental composition of nanocatalysts determine via EDX analysis. Promoting the basicity and the adsorption rate of CO₂, is attributed to the higher amount of OH groups for sol–gel prepared samples, proved by FTIR. Ni–Co/Al₂O₃ due to the synergetic effect of sol–gel method and cobalt addition depicted excellent characterization such as higher surface area, smaller particle size, supplying more stable support and enhanced morphology. Therefore, this nanocatalyst represented the best products yield (H₂ = 98.21 and CO = 95.64), H₂/CO close to unit (0.92–1.05) and stable conversion during 1,440 min stability test. So, Ni–Co/Al₂O₃ among all of the prepared nanocatalysts demonstrated the best catalytic performance and presented it as a highly efficient catalyst for dry reforming of methane. Despite of the stable yield of Ni–Cu/Al₂O₃, it depicted the lower catalytic activity and H₂/CO ratio than the unprompted nanocatalysts.